Antiferromagnetic CuMnAs multi-level memory cell with microelectronic compatibility

Olejnik, K.; Schuler, V.; Marti, X.; Nov�k, V.; Kaspar, Z.; Wadley, P.; Campion, R. P.; Edmonds, K. W.; Gallagher, B. L.; Garces, J.; Baumgartner, M.; Gambardella, P.; Jungwirth, T.

Abstract

Antiferromagnets offer a unique combination of properties including the radiation and magnetic field hardness, the absence of stray magnetic fields, and the spin-dynamics frequency scale in terahertz. Recent experiments have demonstrated that relativistic spin-orbit torques can provide the means for an efficient electric control of antiferromagnetic moments. Here we show that elementary-shape memory cells fabricated from a single-layer antiferromagnet CuMnAs deposited on a III–V or Si substrate have deterministic multi-level switching characteristics. They allow for counting and recording thousands of input pulses and responding to pulses of lengths downscaled to hundreds of picoseconds. To demonstrate the compatibility with common microelectronic circuitry, we implemented the antiferromagnetic bit cell in a standard printed circuit board managed and powered at ambient conditions by a computer via a USB interface. Our results open a path towards specialized embedded memory-logic applications and ultra-fast components based on antiferromagnets.

Citation

Olejnik, K., Schuler, V., Marti, X., Novák, V., Kaspar, Z., Wadley, P., …Jungwirth, T. (2017). Antiferromagnetic CuMnAs multi-level memory cell with microelectronic compatibility. Nature Communications, 8, Article 15434. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15434

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 28, 2017
• Online Publication Date: May 19, 2017
• Publication Date: May 19, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jul 14, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 14, 2017
• Journal: Nature Communications
• Electronic ISSN: 2041-1723
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 8
• Article Number: 15434
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15434
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/861272
• Publisher URL: http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms15434
• Contract Date: Jul 14, 2017